Dear players,
Summary in case you do not wish to read everything:
- Existing Monthly/Yearly Premium players will keep the current prices (= nothing changes for you as long as you keep your Premium Subscription going).
- You can still subscribe to Premium before November 1st with the current prices.
- Premium prices will be raised on November 1st.
- the new Monthly Premium price: $5 / €5 per month
- the new Yearly Premium price: 30$ / 30€ per year, $2.5 / €2.5 per month
- We will publish this news on the BGA homepage on October 18th.
- for details, questions, ... see below
2021 has been an incredible year for Board Game Arena, with an unprecedented number of new games added to the service (136 since January 1st!), including some that were expected for a long time like Agricola, Splendor, Castles of Burgundy or more recently, King of Tokyo.
We would like to thank all of you for this incredible success and especially those of you who are helping making this service run.
Things also changed in the team: we expanded the team to make this service more reliable and more professional, and thanks to this we expect to bring you some nice updates in the next months.
As you know a vast majority of games on Board Game Arena are free, which is cool, and some are Premium, which allow this service to exist and to grow.
For Premium membership, we love low and simple prices. Low because we prefer to have more Premium members than a few at a higher price, and simple because board game rules are complicated enough.
We have not increased our subscription prices in years, but the time has come for us to adjust them to the extended catalogue and services that BGA now offers.
As usual, we prepared a mini-FAQ for you, so you can understand the why and the how:
What about my current Monthly/Yearly subscription? Will the prices raise too?
No.
Because we value our most loyal members, if you subscribe to the Monthly / Yearly subscription with the current price, the price will remain the same after November 1st. For the time being, there is absolutely no change for you as long as you keep your current subscription.
What will the new prices be?
Monthly Premium new price: $5 / €5 (invoiced monthly)
Yearly Premium new price: $2.5 / €2.5 per month (invoiced $30/ €30 annually)
2 months Premium using Paypal: €10
12 months Premium using Paypal: €30
For other currencies, the prices will increase more or less to match these.
Compared to our previous price table, that is close to a 1,00$/€ / month increase (0,5€ for yearly subscription).
Why are we raising the prices?
The current prices were set in 2016, and have not been changed since then.
Back in 2016, there were exactly 3 Premium games on BGA (Carcassonne, Lost Cities and Love Letter) and 151 games total. We now have 59 Premium games and 378 games total.
Revenues from Premium subscriptions are shared with game publishers who have Premium games on BGA, and these royalties are by far our main cost- we are very proud to contribute to the board game economy this way!
We kept the same prices for all of these years, but obviously at some point the expanding offer must be reflected in the price of the service, so that the virtuous circle we created with game publishers can continue.
When will the prices rise?
November 1st (no exact time, it depends on technical stuff).
What if I subscribe to Monthly/ Yearly before November 1st?
You will subscribe with the current price (24$ annually, or 4$ each month), and you will keep these prices after the November 1st price update, as long as you do not cancel your membership.
What if I cancel my Monthly/Yearly subscription in 2022 and take a new one?
In this case, the new price plan will apply.
What about "fixed duration Premium" memberships (Paypal or gift codes)?
The new prices will apply on any new purchase starting November 1st.
Are you raising the price now because BGA is now part of a bigger group?
We did not increase our price over the past 5 years, while multiplying by 20 the number of Premium games, so we have had to be thinking about the prices for awhile. Long before any acquisition.
But to answer the question directly: this price increase has been decided by the BGA team, on our own initiative, and not by our shareholder.
Are you raising your prices because of COVID or because of the current economic situation?
Actually, we chose not to increase prices during the crisis because we felt it was the right thing to do.
So the answer is the same: we just feel like this is the right time to do it.
Is this going to be published on the BGA homepage?
Yes, on October 18th. We did not have the communication space to do it sooner, but we wanted to inform you as soon as possible, so this is why we are using the forum in the meantime.
Thanks for reading!
